MPC22: Firing up for more Red Dragon records

Each and every year the team at PokerStars LIVE Macau make bold claims about it being the 'biggest year yet' or say things like 'this next Red Dragon will feature the largest field in the event's history'.

It's easy to think this is simply the rhetoric a company doing the best marketing and promotion they can. To a certain extent that is true and who's to blame them for that.

It's also perhaps true that some companies make these sorts of assertions without actually believing it, let alone following through and proving themselves right.

PokerStars LIVE Macau, however, is different.

When they say an event is going to be massive, it's absolutely going to be massive.

They say the prize pools will be astronomical, they mean it.

Claims of a record field size? You better believe some records are going to be broken.

So hopefully when we are hear reports that the upcoming 22nd edition of the Macau Poker Cup is going be the biggest ever, PokerStars LIVE Macau mean it.

The PokerStars LIVE Macau poker room at the City of Dreams

It is estimated that more than HK$26 million (~US$3.3 million) will be awarded to players over the 17 day festival which began just around a week ago.

Plenty of that cash has already been awarded over several tournaments. The largest chunk of that amount, however, will be awarded in the coveted Red Dragon Main Event - the tournament that the PokerStarsBlog is here in Macau to provide media coverage of.

It would certainly be a bold claim to say that this Red Dragon will break records. Afterall, the bar is set so high at 995 entrants. That record was set in the 20th anniversary edition Red Dragon which took place in January of last year.

It was Mongolia's Buyanjargal Bold who won the Red Dragon at MPC20. He made a three-handed deal with Percy Yung and Victor Teng, ultimately claiming HK$1,592,000.

Later in 2014, meanwhile, Zhenru Xie won the MPC21 Red Dragon making him the official reigning champ. Xie defeated a total field of 808 players to claim just under HK$1.5 million.

Reigning champ Zhenru Xie

The record field size set at MPC20 might seem like a tough one to beat, but if anyone is going to host more than a 1,000 players in a freezeout tournament at this buy-in level, it's PokerStars LIVE Macau.

Something that is different this year is that Bold won his Red Dragon in January, while this 22nd edition of the Red Dragon takes place in March. It's hard to tell what this will mean to the field size, but we are sure there is method to the madness employed by PokerStars LIVE Macau.

Another thing that is different this year is that the previous HK$11,000 entry has been bumped to HK$12,000 (~US$1,700). So that means if the field reaches anywhere near that 995 record, the prize pool will be over US$1.5 million.

Its giant prize pools like this which have made the Red Dragon Main Event one of the most prestigious events in Asia.

But arguably more importantly, it's this bad boy...

A trophy so powerful it would tame a Targaryen

Who wouldn't want to win the best looking trophy in poker?

You will be able to find out who ends up lifting that trophy right here at the PokerStarsBlog. The action kicks off from 6:00pm local time on Saturday when the first of four Day 1 flights begins.